USK  , a small

market town, is beautifully situated on the right bank of the Usk river, ro m . N.N.E. of Newport . Pop. of urban district (1901), 1476 . It unites with Newport and Monmouth to form the Monmouth parliamentary district of boroughs, returning one member . It is of high antiquity, occupying the site of a Roman-British village or fort; and there are picturesque ruins of an ancient castle erected in de-fence of the Welsh marches, and as such, a scene of frequent strife from Norman times until the days of the warlike Owen Glendower, about 1400 . The church of St Mary originally belonged to a Benedictine nunnery of the 12th century .